Michael Altman
Michael Altman is credited as the founder of Unitology. Biography Little is known about Michael Altman's early life; at some point, however, we do know that he became a geophysicist. He also has a varied ancestry, with his own mother being a Native American, although he didn't know from which tribe. Government Researcher Altman was included in a secret research project focused on deciphering the Black Marker. According to one account, Altman was "a geophysicist who discovered a mysterious signal emitting from deep within the Chicxulub crater. He and his girlfriend Ada lead an excavation team to the underwater crater, determined to find the source of the baffling message. But what they discovered possessed a mysterious power. Close proximity to the stone caused strange occurrences: visions of the dead, vivid dreams, and violent murders. When Michael secretly obtained a small piece of the marker, he brings these visions to the world above. One message from the Marker was clear: "Prove yourself worthy of eternal life, or the slate will be wiped clean on Earth."[http://www.gamecouch.com/2010/05/summer-reading/ GameCouch: Summer Reading] Unitology Altman, following his departure from the research project, revealed his findings to the world. He then supposedly founded the religion of Unitology when he discovered the existence of the Black Marker, an alien artifact discovered by the Earth Government and hidden in order to discourage belief in alien life. (The above facts are fictitious facts created by the true founders of Unitology, Markoff and Stevens, as seen in Dead Space: Martyr.) Although Altman was credited with the founding of Unitology, he was in actuality not the religion's actual founder and was, in fact, opposed to it. During the course of the book Dead Space: Martyr, Altman began investigating a gravitational anomaly in the Chixculb crater. After Altman blew the whistle on a failed attempt to retrieve the artifact in the crater, he was brought aboard a floating science station. Altman soon befriends a submarine pilot, and manages to pilot a sub down to the Black Marker. Altman's friend, and co-pilot, Hendricks, attacked him, crazed by the Marker, and Altman was forced to subdue him. But Altman was unaffected at all by the Marker. Because of his ability to be in close proximity to the Marker without the adverse side affects of his colleagues, those influenced by the Marker began to hail him as an unwilling prophet. His exposure of the Marker's existence was in actuality an attempt to go public with the belief that the government was planning on utilizing the artifact as a dangerous and deadly weapon. After a brief escape from the ocean facility, Altman blew the whistle about the Marker in Washington D.C. Altman was recaptured, however, and watched as a sudden Necromorph infection destroyed the facility and killed the staff. Altman, however, managed to replicate the Markers genetic code in an attempt to calm it, and destroyed the entire facility. Markoff and Stevens (two military men who were overseeing the project) then had him captured and planned to kill him, and use his Martyrsim to enhance the name of the Church of Unitology, which Michael unwittingly 'founded'. They also copied the code Altman had used to calm the Marker, and planned to use it as a blueprint of a second Marker. The two men killed Altman by putting him in an area with only spoon for a weapon against a Necromorph made of three corpses, including Krax's, one of Markoff's soldiers. Krax was killed because he had killed Ada, Michael's girlfriend, during torture sessions. The Necromorph that killed Altman very closely matched the description of a Brute. Dead Space: Martyr Martyrdom and Legacy Altman was thought to be killed by the Earth Government after spreading the word of the Black Marker and of Unitology whilst working on the research team studying it, an act that caused great social upheaval due to the martyrdom effect. When in actuality, the first people to believe the Black Marker was holy, saw him as a reluctant prophet and the Military (now also believing the Marker was holy) started a formal church, The Church of Unitology, so that by the time the Red Marker was completed, the public would share their view of its divinity. Since then, Unitologists have worshiped him as a martyr figure and interpreted the Black Marker to be a sign from God. Many statues of Altman are also seen in Dead Space 2, in the Church of Unitology. Interestingly, despite the Necromorphs present in the building, the area seems relatively unaffected by the outbreak, like it had been ignored by the infection. Trivia *The Hebrew meaning of the name Michael is "Who is like God?". In Old German, Altman means "old man" or "wise man". *The lyrics of the M*A*S*H song "Suicide Is Painless" were written by none other than a Mike Altman. The refrain is most interesting: :Cause suicide is painless,'' :It brings on many changes, :And I can take or leave it if I please *Michael Altman was the main protagonist in Dead Space: Martyr.[http://kotaku.com/5516189/another-dead-space-prequel-only-this-one-you-read '''Kotaku: Another Dead Space Prequel, Only This One You Read] *B.K. Evenson, author of Dead Space: Martyr, wrote a book in the 90's titled "Altmann's Tongue". Though the spelling is different, the creators of Dead Space may have chosen the name "Altman" because they are fans of Evenson's work, as evidenced by the fact that they chose him to write Dead Space: Martyr. Gallery File:Mickey Alty.jpg|A Statue of Michael Altman in the Church of Unitology File:Mickey Alty2.jpg|And another one. Notes just wanted to put in notes section this is for the 360 version not the ps3 i found when using the right thumb stick that you can tilt the camera on the main menu i did this after i beat it however but you can and if you look in the top right hand corner their is a message in unitoligy script their is also on in the bottom left hand corner just letting someone who wants to decipher it my email is abc147789230z@yahoo.com email me the results Sources Category:Characters